REVIEWS Archives - Page 9 of 623

22Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Hole! – Underbelly Bristo Sq.

If it is done with enough passion, commitment and sheer musical ability, apparently you really can make a musical about absolutely anything. HOLE! is the proof. Created and performed by American Sing-Song's Jake Brasch and Nadja Leonhard-Hooper, and directed by RJ Tolan, its premise is completely bonkers. A fundamentalist Christian community in Nebraska prepares for an apocalyptic event called The Great Sucking, and survival depends upon having something firmly lodged where the sun doesn't shine. That's probably enough plot. What I wasn't expecting was just how controlled, sophisticated and ultimately joyous this would be. The musicianship is superb. Brasch and Leonhard-Hooper move from big, life-affirming harmonies into exquisitely intimate passages, sometimes accompanied...

22Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Two Little Pigs – Pleasance Courtyard

There is a problem before Two Little Pigs has even begun. Sitting in the front row of The Green at Pleasance Courtyard, the glare from the lighting is sufficiently fierce that I resort to sunglasses. That shouldn't happen. The Green itself is a wafer-thin temporary structure seating around 60, full tonight, but with external noise penetrating the space. Nevertheless, director Merle Wheldon and her two performers have an intriguing hour ahead of them. Written by Caitlin McEwan, produced by Patrick Bone Productions, and performed by McEwan as Pig alongside Caleb Hughes as Mark, Two Little Pigs takes us into the increasingly troubling world of the manosphere. Mark's relationship with Martha has collapsed and she has walked out. Into the void comes a pig. The slight...

22Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Top Gunchained – Guilded Balloon Teviot

It is not the most promising of starts. A double-height room, plastic seats laid out on the flat and an approximately 18-inch-high stage. On it, there is virtually nothing: black drapes, a solitary leather swivel chair and a Top Gun-esque flying jacket. Fortunately, Richard Marsh doesn't need much else. Top Gunchained retells Top Gun through beat poetry, physical comedy and Marsh's own relationship with his father. It is a clever conceit, but what elevates it beyond movie parody is the warmth of that father-son story. Marsh's portrayal of his dad, complete with a wonderfully characterful West Country accent, is particularly lovely. We see the young Marsh growing up on his father's knee with Top Gun becoming one of their favourite films and later r...

The Ghost of White Hart Lane – Underbelly Bristo Sq

22Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

The Ghost of White Hart Lane – Underbelly Bristo Sq

There was an odd triptych of personal coincidences waiting for me in The Ghost of White Hart Lane. I live in Musselburgh, where John White grew up, I previously lived in Falkirk, where he played before heading south, and I have a daughter called Elsie, also the name given by White's son Rob to one of his two daughters. If ever a story ought to have drawn me in, this was probably it. Written and directed by Martin Murphy, from Rob White and Julie Welch's book, the production is performed by Cal Newman, who negotiates an extraordinary collection of characters as we move between John's remarkable footballing career and Rob's attempts to discover the father he never knew. The Musselburgh material particularly interested me. White played locally before joining Bonnyrigg Rose, while w...

Mysteries of the Picts – Sauna Theatre Summerhall

22Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Mysteries of the Picts – Sauna Theatre Summerhall

There is something wonderfully Fringe about sitting in a sauna with 47 other souls while being invited to contemplate whether the Picts were partial to a good steam. Mysteries of the Picts explores not only Pictish culture but the much longer history of sauna itself, looking at archaeological evidence for sweathouses and communal bathing stretching back thousands of years. When it comes specifically to the Picts, things become rather more speculative. There is no firm archaeological evidence that they used saunas, although the production reasonably suggests that sacred gathering places may subsequently have disappeared beneath churches, civic buildings and other later development. It is interesting, although the history and archaeology remain somewhat vague. Where the produc...

22Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Haribo Kimchi – Studio Theatre

Jaha Koo's gentle, curious piece didn't particularly move or affect me while I was watching it. Yet the following morning I found myself still thinking about its snail, singing gummy bear and extraordinary electronic eel. Perhaps this is a show whose flavours develop over time. The Studio is a comfortable, well-raked room with a generous stage. Upon it sits an almost pagoda-like structure, its sloping translucent surfaces becoming screens onto which images of a Korean metropolis are projected. Percussive music accompanies them and a brightly illuminated orange crown completes a rather striking opening image. Koo arrives and quite literally peels this theatrical exterior away. Underneath is something altogether more prosaic: the stainless-steel counter of a Korean street-food stall (p...

22Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Scaramouche Jones – Assembly Bijou

Where on earth is everybody? Justin Butcher is giving what is arguably the finest one-man performance I have seen at this year's Edinburgh Fringe. Scaramouche Jones is theatre-making and storytelling of the absolute highest quality. And the Bijou tent is barely a quarter full. What is going on? Butcher's Scaramouche Jones has been travelling the world for 25 years. Pete Postlethwaite originated the role, directed by Rupert Goold, and the play itself has subsequently travelled internationally. Maybe nobody wants to see a 25-year-old play, or perhaps it is just not to the ‘modern’ palate. Whatever the reason, what a joy it was to discover. On Millennium Eve, 1999, Scaramouche stands on the brink of his hundredth birthday and takes us back through an extr...

The Great Shakespeare Showdown – theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall

21Aug

By Ross MackieNo Comments

Scotland

The Great Shakespeare Showdown – theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall

The Great Shakespeare Showdown is a brisk, crowd-pleasing slice of Fringe theatre that knows exactly what it is: a daft, affectionate celebration of Shakespeare, showmanship and frontier bravado. Set in Leadville, Colorado, in 1882, Dennis Elkins’ comedy imagines a town so besotted with the Bard that its silver miners can quote him as readily as they can swing a pickaxe. It is a wonderfully odd premise, and the production leans into that oddness with infectious confidence. The show’s central contest pits English thespian Sir Charles GoodKnight (Dan Morrison) against American stage star Harriet Twelvetrees (Kate Poling) in a verbal shoot-out of quotations, insults and theatrical one-upmanship. Around them, Billy (Mel Schaffer) acts as master of ceremonies, inviting the audience to cheer,...

21Aug

By Ella BeckleyNo Comments

Scotland

Dust – Pleasance Courtyard

Dust travels through time and space, waltzing, dodging and diving through the life of a working-class man. It is the energetic, nostalgic retelling of life that many wish they could’ve had from their own grandparents. Bunker one at Pleasance Courtyard, a cavernous stage set only with a wooden trunk, a walking stick and a miner’s helmet set atop. Seats littered with flyers describing Dust as ‘A true story of northern grit, humour, heart & soul!’, covered in appraisals and five-star ratings. Once the house lights dim and actor Craig...

21Aug

By Ella BeckleyNo Comments

Scotland

Trainspotting Live – Pleasance @ EICC

Trainspotting Live has a reputation to behold, with nine years of sell-out Fringe runs and Irvine Welsh himself saying it’s ‘better than either the book or film’. The show is deserving of every star it has ever received and more. The atmosphere at the EICC is buzzing with expectations, stewards replace tickets with glow sticks and usher audience members towards a darkened space with heavy dance music and flashing lights. From the moment the cast welcome their audience onto their raving set, Trainspotting Live draws you in like a moth to a flame, only to set you ablaze and turn it all to ash. The cast bring their world alive, pulling the audience into every moment of joy, love, loss and fear. It all begins with contagiously high energy, the characters are literally...